pre-dreadnought battleships to be built by Austria-Hungary between 1899 and 1902. The construction of the Habsburg-class battleships marked the beginning of the naval expansion program by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. The Habsburg class was also the first class of seagoing battleships the Austro-Hungarian Navy built since the construction of the ship Tegetthoff 24 years earlier in 1876. The class was composed of three ships: , , and . The members of the Habsburg class were built in the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyards in Trieste. The lead ship of the class, Habsburg, was launched on 9 September 1900. Árpád followed a year later, with her launching on 11 September 1901. The last ship of the class was the Babenberg, launched on 4 October 1902. The first two ships, Habsburg and Árpád, were modernized either in 1910 and 1911 respectively, or in 1911 and 1912, by having one deck of the superstructure removed. At the outbreak of World War I in late July 1914, Habsburg was serving as the flagship of the III Battleship Division of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, under the command of Captain Miklós Horthy, alongside her two sisters. They were later transferred to the IV Division after the new s came into service. All three battleships saw a limited service during World War I as members of the IV Division of the Austro-Hungarian fleet. While both Babenberg and Árpád participated in the bombardment of the Italian port city of Ancona in 1915, the class was largely inactive for the remainder of the war, serving as coastal defense ships. All three were decommissioned in 1916 in order to allow their crews to serve in the Austro-Hungarian air force and as crew members of Austro-Hungarian U-boats. Following the end of World War I, all of the Habsburg-class battleships were handed over to Great Britain. They were then sold to Italy and broken up in 1921. Erzherzog Karl class The Erzherzog Karl class was the second class of pre-dreadnought battleships to be built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Like the members of the Habsburg class before them, all of the battleships of the Erzherzog Karl class were built in the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino shipyards in Trieste. The first battleship, was laid down in 1902. Construction on the remaining two battleships, and continued up to 1905. Erzherzog Karl was commissioned in 1906, while Erzherzog Ferdinand Max and Erzherzog Friedrich were commissioned in 1907. The three Erzherzog